Scratch built Mausoleum

I recently ran a large 8 player game of Frostgrave at Fall In 2016. I used about 90% of the same terrain I did last time at Cold Wars 2016. I did add some new pieces and one was this mausoleum.

Renedra made some stone floor plastic pieces which I think are the base for there towers. I thought they would be great for ruins or village cotteges. I bought a few packs.

I used MS Publisher to draw a template for the walls

I used Elmers glue stick to glue the template to foamcore that I had stripped the paper off of.

Once cut out the template is easy to peel off the foamcore. I made 2 templates with different sized arches to get inset windows and doorway. I used a low temp hot glue gun to glue the 2 walls together.

Test fit with figure for scale

Here you can see the Renedra floor sections. I glued 2 sections to one piece of foamcore and used a ball point pen to score the stone work.

I made double thick walls of foamcore.  

Using a ball point pen I scored in the stone work.

All glued together. I used a tin foil ball to scuff up the inside walls to add texture.

The roof is made of Foamcore and pink insulation. Again scoring with a pen. The skull is a halloween plastic ring, sold at dollar stores.

As I was using this piece to enlarge a graveyard, that was mostly GW's Garden of Morr, I used those pieces as inspiration for style. Torches are from a Kickstarter,

Large spikes are bamboo skewers and small spikes are spear tips from GW's State Troop box set.

I finished painting the this piece on the morning we were heading to Fall In. Didn't get any pictures of painting it, other than the partial coat above. Also not finished was the interior. I would use as is, but I brought along a crafting kit box to finish the interior if I had time at the convention.

 Here I set up a crafting table in the hotel room at the convention.

The interior of the Mausoleum are open crypt niches with skeletons. I had these pieces I got off ebay year or more ago sitting around doing nothing. So I cut foamcore sides and hot glued them into the niche shelves that will get mounted inside the building. Again, no more pics as I had to set up the game in about an hour so was rushing.

Here is the finished Graveyard with Mausoleum. Gate, statue, and smaller crypts are from Games Workshop. Sarcophagus are from Reaper Bones. Metal fencing from Dept 56 found at garage sale. Green Led tea Lights from Amazon.

Completed building and on the game table.

I was "just" happy with the Mausoleum when I finished it at home. When I got the time to add the crypt niches in the hotel, that sent the piece over the top for me.   It was a fun build, and I will use it as a stepping stone for more foamcore buildings. I'll make a post about the game in a few days.

Cheers, Xin/Jeff

Frostgrave 8 Player Battle Report

Here are pics of the game I ran at Fall In. I did 2 sessions. The first game I had 4 players and the 2nd had 8 players. I broke the players into 2 teams for each game. A good side and an evil side. That way the game would move faster if half the players were moving at the same time.

I made some minor rules changes to handle a large convention game. Every building had treasure in it. All treasure on the lowest level was worth one point. The treasure in the castle ruins and the raised area at the other end are worth 3 points. Also each Wizard had an individual mission that was worth 10 points.

 Here is the table set up before the game.

Castle Ruins on the left, then a Cathedral, Graveyard and Dragon Temple on the other.

Taking pics from each corner.

Dragon Temple, Cathedral and Graveyard

 Castle Ruins

The Bad Guys

The Good Guys

 Rear shot of the Temple area

 I got this guy for Best Table in my Time Slot. I was shocked.

 Fighting in the Castle

Troops on the Bridge. The White piece of paper is where the Chronomancer cast Crumble and dropped an enemy Apprentice to the lower level.

Evil has seized the Bridge.

The construct and Enchanters Soldiers beating on The Chronomancers soldiers

With everyone scattered all over the board it is hard to paint a narrative of the battle. I'll just sum it up. Session 1(4 player) Good won by collecting the most treasures. Session 2(8 player) Good won by getting the most treasures and completing personal missions. The last mission by the Enchanter pushed them over the top. I will point out, Good paid a price for victory. Evil managed to kill 3 Wizards!

None of the players had played the game before. A few players had read through the rules. After the battle, I know  a few players were diving in and buying the rules. It was a fun game with a great group of players.

I will most likely re-run this game at Cold Wars. That will give me time to build a better table. There were aspects of the table that were rushed or unfinished. I have plans...


Xin

Frostgrave, 8 Player convention game, The Bad Guys

Here are the Bad Guys from my 8 player Frostgrave game I ran at Fall In 2015. The Good Guys are here.

The Necromancer. Wizard and Apprentice is from Reaper. The soldiers are 30 year old Games Workshop Skeletons. The raised Zombie is Wargames Factory.

The Summoner. Frankly I ran out of time and had to borrow figures to get 8 teams. The Wizard is one I painted and is a Chaos Sorcerer. The rest my good friend Lou painted. I'm not sure where the Apprentice is from. The soldiers are all Chaos Thugs and the Demon is D&D Plastics. Thanks Lou!

This is my half-troll or Trollkin Warband. The Inspiration for this warband is the Wendol from The 13th Warrior. A tribe of warriors led by a Witch. The Witch(right) and the Apprentice  are both D&D Plastics. The Trollkin Warriors are all Heroscape Gruts, and the Full Troll(Animal Companion: Bear) is a Dreamblade Mini.

The last Warband on Team Evil is my Chronomancer. The Wizard is a Reaper. The Rest of the warband are converted Games Workshop Acolytes. I've had these figures for 25 years. I always intended to make a Wizards bodyguard for my WHFB Empire army, but never got around to it. 

Next up is pics from the game.

Xin 

Frostgrave, 8 Player convention game, The Good Guys

Last Weekend was the wargame convention Fall In, in Lancaster PA. I ran an 8 player Frostgrave game. It was chaotic but fun. I was previously blogging about putting the table together and building the terrain, but I fell way behind in my schedule so blogging was set aside. I was so far behind that I was painting sections of the table, the morning we were leaving.

With the chaos of the convention behind me, I can post some pics of the build up and the game.

My game consisted of 8 Warbands broken up into 2 sides. The Good Guys and The Bad Guys. Then each Team had individual goals for the game as well as Treasure collecting.

Here are the Good guys:

My Enchanter Warband. The main color is a light blue, but the photo washes it out. Soldiers are official Frostgrave figs. Wizard and Apprentice are Reaper as is the Construct.

This is my Druidic/Norse Warband. Wizard(left) and Apprentice are Footsore Miniatures. Bear companion is a D&D Plastic fig. Infantry, Barbarian and Archer are all old old GW figs. Thugs are Gripping Beast Plastic Vikings

I used Fireforge Teutonic Foot for my Cleric Warband. This warband is themed as a D&D Cleric. I did custom spells to mimic AD&D 1st ed Cleric spells.    

Cleric center, Acolyte(Apprentice) Left and Brother Knight right. All Fireforge.

These are the spells I used for the custom class Cleric. I might tweak them a little for future games, but I think the base spells work. Some of them are renamed Frostgrave spells, some are new.

 Last up for  the good guys is the blaster or Elementalist. The Wizard(left) and the Apprentice are Reaper, all the soldiers are Frostgrave and the dog is Warlord Games.

Here are most of the treasures I put on the table. The custom ones were all made by my good friend Lou. He is an amazing scratch builder. Others are Ral Partha Wizard Lab pieces, Hirst Arts Accessory molds, Reaper Bones pieces, GW bits from my Empire army, GW LOTR Balin's Tomb and one Otherworld Mini's piece.

The wounded figure is a D&D Plastics piece, That was a special mission piece to Rescue a Friend. Some of the custome pieces are The Holy Hand Grenade, The Ark of the Covenant, Excalibur, and a Shrubbery.

Other custom pieces are supply caches and a sacrificial Alter with recent victim.

3 more special mission pieces can be seen here. The Time Orb for the Chronomancer mission. The magical Cauldron for the Troll Witch mission and the Golden Demon Idol that was for the Summoner Mission.

Next up will be the Evil Warbands then I'll have pics of the game.

Xin

Frostgrave Table for Fall In

I started work on my Frostgrave table a few weeks ago, but since I am also doing a table for The Battle of Rivoli, as well, I got behind in my blogging.

So here are some shots of the work as I go along. Some of the terrain I already have and some I am building.

I also have some shots of the warbands I have been working on. Frankly I'm starting to think building 2 tables and painting the 8 warbands was a little too much. It will get done, but I will be exhausted going into the convention and my wife started in an annoyed state that will be moving to pissed off.


The table will be 4x6 feet. I have 3 sections of 2'x4' pink insulation foam.

I wanted to give the ground some texture. I wanted to break up what I call the golf course like battle table. This is a piece of coral that was in my garden. I roll it around pressing down into the foam.

The irregular patter of the coral makes great indentations in the foam. I use a glove as it will dig into my hand as well.

It's hard to see the texture in a photo. I think this shot does a decent job of showing the texture.

Now this was attempt number 1 of painting the board. Looked like crap, then I tried dry brushing white on top, but it was still too blotchy. I'm on attempt number 3 of the board, but forgot to take a picture.

Here is a building I'm putting together. The front piece is a GW terrain set from there new Age of Sigmar line. I've added other elements to flesh out a more complete ruins, like the Reaper arch in the back of the building. Balsa wood timbers and Pegasus Hobbies bricks.

This is a Pegasus Hobbies Gothic Building set. I used foam core to make a floor and added rubble along the edges. I need to add more.

This is my Trollkin warband, Lead by a Witch, this a tribe of Trollkins(troll/human mixed race) from my D&D world. I took inspiration for the matriarchal warband from The 13th Warrior. Witch on the left, Apprentice on the right.

Here are the Trollkin Warriors. For Frostgrave we have a Man-at-Arms, 2 Thugs and a Treasure Hunter(left to right). 3rd from the left was an archer, but I need another Thug, so I cut off the bow and added a sword from my bits box.

2 Trollkin Archers

And here's the Witch with her "Animal Companion". I figured a large full blooded troll would be thematic, but on the table it will just be a Bear.

Here's the whole gang together.

That's all for now. I hope to have more pics up Friday or Saturday.

Xin